Do remote jobs need to show salary ranges in my state?

Do remote jobs need to show salary ranges in my state No single national rule answers this question. Remote jobs can trigger salary-range disclosure laws in the state where the employer is based, the state where the work is performed, and sometimes the state where the candidate will work from. The part people get wrong is assuming a remote posting is outside state law because it has no office address.

New York makes that problem explicit. The New York Department of Labor says any job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that will physically be performed outside New York but reports to a supervisor, office, or other work site in New York must include pay or salary information. The same department also says a remote posting for a company whose leadership and primary location are outside New York and that can be performed anywhere remotely does not need a range under New York’s law. That split matters.

California and Washington are the other common traps for remote hiring. Their pay transparency rules are written broadly enough that remote jobs can still be covered when the work can be done in those states. Employers who post one nationwide remote role often have to check the posting against multiple state laws before publishing it.

The inconvenient part is that the answer changes with the exact facts of the role. A remote job that can be done from anywhere may avoid one state’s disclosure rule, but a role restricted to residents of a state with a pay transparency law can trigger that law. A company that has a work site, supervisor, or reporting line in a covered state can also create an obligation even when the employee sits at home.

If you are checking a posting, start with three questions. Where is the employer headquartered, where can the work actually be done, and which states are named in the job description or hiring process. If the posting says the worker must live in New York, California, Washington, New Jersey, or another pay-transparency state, assume the disclosure rule may apply and verify the current statute before posting.

New York’s guidance also shows why “remote” is not enough detail. A remote role tied to a New York work site can still need a pay range. A remote role truly open to anywhere and run from outside New York can fall outside that requirement. The same logic is why employers should not copy one posting into every state without checking the local rule first.

Some states require a range in the ad, while others only require pay information later in the process or on request. That difference matters because a remote role may still need to state pay in one state and not in another. The safe habit is to write the posting for the strictest state that can lawfully cover the role, then remove or adjust it only after checking the governing law.

If you are an applicant, read the location language carefully. “Remote,” “hybrid,” and “must be based in” do not mean the same thing. A role that is remote but restricted to a state with disclosure rules is not the same as a role open anywhere in the country. The exact wording in the posting often decides whether the employer has to show a range.

If you are an employer, keep one internal checklist for every remote role: resident restrictions, possible work sites, reporting location, and any state where the job is advertised. That avoids the common mistake of publishing a role without a range in one state, then discovering the posting was covered there. DevConnect keeps hiring and testing work organized on owned property, and its platform page explains the free exchange model at https://devconnectplatform.com.

If you need a practical next step, look up the pay transparency law for the state you care about and read the section on remote or out-of-state work. New York’s labor department FAQ is a good model for how specific those rules can be. If your posting reaches multiple states, use the most restrictive applicable rule as the draft, not the exception.

The safest summary is simple: remote jobs do need salary ranges when the applicable state law says they do, and remote status by itself does not exempt the posting. The part that matters is where the job can be performed, where the employer is tied, and what each state’s law says about remote postings.

If your job is part-time, contract, or commission-based, read the law for that category too. Some states require a stated wage range, some require a good-faith estimate, and some require a different disclosure format for commissioned roles. The job title alone is not enough to answer the question.

For a real compliance check, keep a copy of the posting, the state(s) involved, and the date you reviewed the rule. If the employer later changes the allowed work location, the disclosure requirement can change with it. That is the detail people miss after the first posting goes live.